AP LANG - Logical Fallacies

Q1: What is a Red Herring fallacy

A1: A Red Herring is when someone introduces irrelevant information to distract from the original topic.

Q2: What does the Ad Hominem fallacy involve

A2: Ad Hominem attacks the person making the argument rather than addressing the argument itself.

Q3: What is the Genetic Fallacy

A3: The Genetic Fallacy judges something as true or false based solely on its origin, not its actual merits.

Q4: How does the Tu Quoque fallacy work

A4: Tu Quoque responds to criticism by accusing the critic of the same fault, avoiding the original issue.

Q5: What is a Faulty Appeal to Authority

A5: It’s when someone cites an authority who isn’t an expert in the relevant field as evidence for an argument.

Q6: What does the Appeal to the People fallacy mean

A6: It argues something is true because many people believe or do it (also known as the Bandwagon fallacy).

Q7: How does the Strawman fallacy function

A7: Strawman misrepresents someone’s argument to make it easier to attack or refute.

Q8: What is Circular Reasoning

A8: Circular Reasoning uses the conclusion as a premise, so the argument goes in a loop without proof.

Q9: What does Equivocation mean in logical fallacies

A9: Equivocation occurs when a word with multiple meanings is used ambiguously to mislead or confuse.

Q10: What is a Loaded Question fallacy

A10: A Loaded Question contains a presumption that traps the respondent regardless of how they answer.

Q11: What is the Part to Whole fallacy (Composition)

A11: It assumes what is true of individual parts must be true of the whole.

Q12: What is the Whole to Part fallacy (Division)

A12: It assumes what is true of the whole must be true of each part.

Q13: What is the Either-Or fallacy (False Dilemma)

A13: It presents only two options when there are actually more possibilities.